That’s not good enough. The fact remains: Rerouting and delaying the Keystone XL does not solve the problem; that the Tar Sandspipeline is a fuse to a massive carbon bomb.

There is already more than enough evidence for the President and the State Department to simply declare that the Keystone XL pipeline is not in our national interest, stopping the project. That is what he should do.

But if the game in Washington DCdoesn’t allow the President to take decisive action, then he clearly has the factual evidence and popular mandate to call for the State Department to start the review process from the beginning and conduct a fair, impartial review that takes into account global warming pollution and is free from the influence of lobbyists.

I just signed a petition telling the President: “Say no, or start over clean.” Learn more and sign the petition here:

Friends,Have you been wondering if you should join an #occupy event in your city?
In the last few weeks, #OccupyWallStreet has grown from a small encampment in downtown New York City to a global movement, with thousands of occupations popping up everywhere from icy Fairbanks to sunny Tallahassee.
I’ve heard from hundreds of people in our network who are taking part in events. People in the 350 movement around the world are helping facilitate discussions, funding bicycle generators at encampments, and making the connection between the crimes on Wall Street and the pollution in our atmosphere.For those of you who haven’t yet visited or joined an occupation, I want to encourage you to join “the 99%” and support this growing movement. To help out, we’ve put together some resources, fact sheets, sign ideas, and a list of occupations.Click here to find an occupation near you: www.350.org/occupy
You don’t necessarily need to camp out to help support this movement. You can also attend the daily general assemblies, take part in discussion groups, donate supplies or money, or put your unique artistic, media, or culinary skills to work. If you’ve been with 350.org for a while, this open-source approach probably feels familiar. It’s more like a potluck where everyone brings a dish than a dinner party with a single host.Remember, all of these #occupy events are being organized by a unique crowd-led, consensus-based process. There will likely be some parts of your local occupation that you love, and other things you might want to change. There’s no way to know exactly what each local #occupy event will look and feel like, so I’ve been encouraging everyone I know to approach each event with an open-mind and a good deal of flexibility.Why should people who care about the climate join the #occupy movement? Here’s one answer: for years, Wall Street has been occupying our atmosphere, backing the huge oil, gas and coal corporations that have polluted our air, water and communities with impunity. And time and again, these members of the 1% have blocked the clean energy and climate legislation that would benefit the other 99% of us.
Take the Keystone XL pipeline that 350.org has been working to stop, it’s a classic example of this cronyism at work. First, we found out that the pipeline company’s chief lobbyist was a former campaign manager for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Next, it turned out the consultants the State Department hired to conduct an environmental impact statement for the pipeline were recommended by the pipeline company itself — is it any wonder they concluded Keystone XL would have no environmental impact? Now, we’re learning that the Koch Brothers are among those who stand to benefit most from the pipeline’s construction.It’s time to take the pollution out of politics, and the #occupy movement has opened a door to do just that. Now it’s up to all of us to walk through it.
Whether you join an #occupy event this week or join the big Keystone XL protest at the White House this November 6, this is a unique time in the movement for change. Let’s shape it together.
In solidarity,
Phil Aroneanu for the 350.org team
P.S. Let’s harness the power of social media to make #occupy as big and bold as possible. Click here to share it on Facebook and click here to share it on Twitter.
P.P.S. We’d love to check out your photos, videos, signs from #OccupyWallStreet and share them with the 350 network! Please email in your best #OccupyWallStreet photo as an attachment to photos@350.org, or post on our Facebook Wall.

Oprah Winfrey is a respected voice who has fought hard to advance the rights and lives of women all over the world.

But now she’s allowing that work to be co-opted, by validating on her network a dangerous campaign of flat out lies that promote the development of the Canadian tar sands.

‘Ethical Oil’ is a purportedly grassroots Canadian group, but it has major ties to the tar sands industry. The astroturf group ran an ad last week exclusively on Oprah’s Canadian TV station, pushing the lie that developing the tar sands will aid the plight of women living in the oppressive Saudi regime, by reducing demand for Saudi oil.1

The ad is the worst kind of propaganda that manages to exploit both women and our environment.2 Oprah shouldn’t let a legitimate concern for the rights of women be co-opted to promote the dirtiest oil in the world, while keeping us addicted to the oil that fuels the Saudi regime.

The Keystone XL pipeline is primarily being built to help export dirty Canadian oil from ports in Texas and Louisiana to Asia and Europe.3 And incredibly, one of the Gulf Coast refineries that would process this tar sands oil is half owned by Saudi Arabia’s national oil company.4So if anything, this tar sands oil will make the Saudis even richer.

The Keystone XL pipeline, the key to rapid development of tar sands oil, won’t help reduce America’s reliance on Middle East oil one bit. But the fact of the matter is we need to confront climate change by drastically reducing our consumption of oil no matter where it is produced.

The unconscionable ad of ‘Ethical Oil’ aims to tug at the heart strings with stories of unjust arrests of Saudi women — glossing over environmental devastation in Canada, massive oil spill risk in the US, major escalation of the carbon emissions that threaten our future, and the fact that Keystone XL pipeline won’t actually reduce our demand for Saudi oil.

None of those is the least bit ethical. Oprah should do the right thing and denounce the ads, stop running them on all her stations, and explain that we must end our dependence on all oil.

This isn’t an everyday request. I’d like you to consider doing something really big: joining me and nearly 2,000 people, and risking arrest to stop President Obama from making a really big mistake.

The President must decide before the end of the year if he will approve or deny the Keystone XL pipeline.

It would ship environmentally catastrophic Canadian tar sands oil through Texas to the Gulf of Mexico; posing a massive spill risk along the way, and speeding the rapid consumption of this oil across the globe, essentially spelling “game over” for our hope of returning earth to a stable climate.1

It’s up to President Obama. He does not have to negotiate with Congress or industry.As his State Department reviews the permit, the decision — which could have a devastating impact on the livability of our nation, and our world — is entirely in his hands.

We’ve lost too many climate fights already. We need a massive, historic show of pressure to make sure we don’t lose this one. The President just granted approval for offshore oil drilling in the Arctic and recently opened vast new areas to coal mining. And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton previously said she was “inclined” to approve this pipeline. But now it’s up to President Obama to defuse the largest carbon bomb on the continent.

To raise massive pressure on the President, there will be a historic daily sit-in in front of the White House every day from August 20th to September 3rd.

Nearly 2,000 people — over 100 a day — have already signed up for a day to risk arrest in peaceful protest. I’ll be there. And so will other CREDO staffers and CREDO Action members, many of us who are traveling across the country to take a stand. Can you be there for one of the days, too?

This action is being organized by leading climate activists including Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein and climate scientist James Hansen. The CEOs and directors of nearly 30 leading environmental organizations, including CREDO’s Michael Kieschnick and Laura Scher, are urging people to participate.2

While arrests are a potential outcome from this action — being arrested is not the goal: Our intent is to send a message that these issues are so urgent and serious that we will escalate our pressure and commitment to make sure that the Keystone XL Pipeline is not approved. If that involves risking arrest, we are prepared and willing to take that risk and deal with the consequences. We believe that the risks of inaction are far greater than the risks of taking action.

Sit-ins and civil disobedience were at the heart of the civil rights movement, and helped end South African apartheid.

Today, in this summer of record-breaking extreme weather, corporate polluters have more power than ever to block sustainable energy sources and keep us locked in our destructive dependence on fossil fuels. Oil refining giants like the Koch brothers want to build this pipeline to build their fortune, shipping the tar sands oil from Texas to be burned across the globe.

But President Obama does not have to negotiate with them, or the global warming deniers in congress who do their bidding.

It is President Obama’s decision alone — but it’s up to us to make sure that he feels so much pressure that he can’t possibly approve this pipeline to disaster.

Please read the invitation from the organizers below this message and join me, other CREDO staff, CREDO Action members and nearly 2000 Americans in taking a stand against dirty oil, to powerfully urge our president to do the same.

We know we’re asking a lot. You should think long and hard on it, and pray if you’re the praying type. But to us, it’s as much privilege as burden to get to join this fight in the most serious possible way. We hope you’ll join us.

Now, these two campaigns are coming together: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce just announced the “Partnership to Fuel America,” which they claim will promote energy policy that will keep America “clean.” The first major initiative of this partnerhship is a campaign to promote the Keystone XL pipeline–one of the dirtiest projects on the entire planet. Seems ridiculous? That’s because it is.

This polluter partnership is just a scheme to let dirty energy companies distort the truth. Their game-plan is to deceive the country through an “AstroTurf” campaign (AKA fake grassroots) that will try to green-wash tar sands oil and pass it off as clean energy.

We can’t let them get away with such a baldly corrupt plan. The Keystone XL pipeline will threaten communities, pour a catastrophic amount of carbon into the atmosphere, and keep us hooked on fossil fuel when we should be transitioning to renewable energy.

Keystone XL is the fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet, and we’re going to do everything we possibly can to snuff it out.

Here’s our 3-part plan to fight back:

1) We’re petitioning President Obama to reject the permit for the pipeline. Already, nearly 30,000 people have signed on–but we’ll need many more to make a big impact for our high-profile petition delivery in DC. Please sign on (and pass it along!) today: www.350.org/take-a-stand

We know it’s been a tough year: the weather’s getting weirder, the political situation is getting grimmer, and it’s sometimes hard to see just how we’ll get out of this mess.

But know this: the world needs you now more than it ever has before, and this movement is capable of amazing things when we work together.

Let’s get ’em,

May Boeve – 350.org

P.S. We like to think social media tools were invented for moments like this — please mobilize your networks with a few clicks on Facebook and here on Twitter.

350.org is building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis. Our online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions are led from the bottom up by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries. You can join 350.org on Facebook by becoming a fan of our page at facebook.com/350org and follow us on twitter by visiting twitter.com/350. To join our list (maybe a friend forwarded you this e-mail) visit www.350.org/signup. To support our work, donate securely online at 350.org/donate.What is 350? 350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Scientists measure carbon dioxide in “parts per million” (ppm), so 350ppm is the number humanity needs to get below as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change. To get there, we need a different kind of PPM–a “people powered movement” that is made of people like you in every corner of the planet.